Taipei: Smaller households are becoming more common in Taiwan amid changing marriage and childbearing patterns and population aging, with households of two people or fewer accounting for more than half of all households for the first time in 2025, government data showed.
According to Focus Taiwan, and Statistics' (DGBAS) latest household income and expenditure survey released on Aug. 14, one- and two-person households accounted for 51.6 percent of all households last year. Two-person households were the most common type, accounting for 34.27 percent, while one-person households made up 17.33 percent, both marking record highs.
Notably, the share of one-person households surpassed that of four-person households for the first time. The data indicated that four-person households accounted for 16.63 percent of all ahouseholds, compared with 23.21 percent for three-person households.
The survey, conducted annually by the DGBAS, collects data on household income, spending, consumption, and savings, as well as household size, composition, and housing conditions. This provides a comprehensive picture of how Taiwan's household structure is evolving.
Historical data show that four-person households were the dominant household type in the 1990s, accounting for 25-27 percent of all households. In the early 1990s, five-person households also accounted for around 20 percent, but their share was already declining. From the late 2000s, the share of four-person households began falling and dropped below 20 percent in 2020, the data showed.